Ristorante Da Claudio

J. Hofstätter Joseph Pinot Grigio 2011 from Alto Adige.

Olives.

Beef carpaccio with truffle cream, parmesan, arugula, shaved carrot and balsamic glace. 

Antipasto misto.

Saltimbocca alla Romana.

Pappardelle with beef filet in cep and truffle cream sauce.

Espresso and biscotti.

Da Claudio
Godthåbsvej 42
2000 Frederiksberg

Notes:
Even though B and I can actually see Da Claudio from our apartment and pass it every single day, last night's visit to the restaurant was a first a for both of us. The exterior look of the restaurant screams cheesy, Italian restaurant and the price level is not exactly competitive compared to many other places around the city. We were however both thrilled and excited as my parents invited us out for dinner yesterday. The look of the interior did not ruin our first impression of a tacky, Italian restaurant, but the warm is light and there is a somehow tranquil atmosphere in the restaurant. We all opted for two à la carte dishes but started off with a crisp, mineral Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige and complementary olives which were marinated in olive oil and fresh parsley but otherwise tasted much like the 5dkk pitted olives available in glasses in most supermarkets. As to the actual courses, I started off with beef carpaccio, which was made of extremely fresh beef but was way over-garnished. I did not really get the addition of raw carrot, and while the truffle cream was really delicious it did not really play very well with the parmesan and balsamico, which all in all made for a confusing impression. B's choice of antipasto misto left us a bit with the same impression but again, the quality of the ingredients could not be questioned. For mains, B's pappardelle with beef, truffle and cep cream sauce was very tasty and hearty and I even managed to snatch two bites from his dish. My saltimbocca alla Romana was also very tasty and I liked the addition of the fried carrot strips though the other vegetable garnishes were quite trivial. For the main courses we enjoyed a Sicilian Nero d'Avola. We ended our meal with a strong espresso and a homemade biscotti and left Da Claudio full and satisfied. I should mention that my parents had booked the table through Restaurant2Night, which enabled them to get a 25% discount on the entire meal. And while I found some of the dishes to be a bit too fuzzy or fragmented, for the final price I think that Da Claudio delivered a delicious, traditional meal at fine value. At full price there are however way better and less tacky deals to found around the city.

Lê Lê Street Kitchen

Vermicelli salad with spring rolls filled with crab, shrimp, turkey and various veggies.

Warm beef salad with green beans, onion, sprouts, tomato, and herbs in a soy sauce and lemon grass dressing.

Lê Lê Street Kitchen
H.C. Andersens Boulevard 8
1553 Copenhagen V

Notes:
My current workplace is right in the center of Copenhagen and though lunch possibilities are plenty I hardly ever venture out for lunch as the canteen in my work place is both good and cheap. When my mother invited me out for a quick lunch yesterday I was however quick to accept the offer. Neither of us had tried Lê Lê Street Kitchen and as it is literally right around the corner from where I work it seemed like a good time to try it out. To be honest my previous encounters with Lê Lê have not been too impressive (e.g. their takeout is hardly a good value proposition) and was thus not sure quite to expect. The restaurant however turned out to be a great place for lunch. Service is no-frills but friendly and efficient, and the space really looks more like a canteen than a restaurant (hence the street kitchen name, I guess). I opted for a warm beef salad. The portion was very generous even though it did not look like much initially. I had however wished that they would had added more herbs as that is what I really love about the Vietnamese cuisine. My mom was quite pleased with the spring rolls, which were served with a nước mắm dipping sauce and a rice noodle salad, which honestly was not too exciting. All in all I however found Lê Lê Street Kitchen to be a fine and fair lunch option in an area where bad caesar salads cost +120dkk. We payed around 250 dkk for these two dishes, a lemonade and sparkling water (tap water is free, thumbs up for that). Recommended.

Wagamama

Miso soup, pickles, and a cheap, drinkable but forgettable Sicilian chardonnay.

Ebi tempura and seaweed salad.

Raw salad with fried shallots.

Fried squid. 

Coconut ice cream and white chocolate, ginger cheesecake.

Wagamama
Tietgensgade 20
1704 København V

Notes:
Wagamama in Copenhagen seems to be one of those places that lives its own secretive life due to a favorable location, in this case in Tivoli. The non-Tivoli entrance is however located on a lifeless street on the back side of the amusement park and not really a place that you would stumble upon. It was thus understandable that Wagamama decided to offer a 50% discount on food throughout January where Tivoli is closed and people are feeling post-Christmas broke. 

B and I went on a Sunday night and to our surprise we were certainly not alone. The service was however quick and friendly. We decided to go with lots of smaller dishes, izakaya style. Soon thereafter we were bombarded with a ton of dishes. To start off with we had miso soup, which was excellent, the accompanying pickles were however quite bland, some even tasteless. The usual three varieties of seaweed had been trade for the common style that is mandatory in any sushi shop. The ebi tempura was tasty and the shrimp certainly of fine quality - the chili sauce however felt a bit misplace. So did the addition of rosemary in the chicken karaage. The fried squid was slightly chewy and did not have much character. The raw salad tasted exactly what it looks like. What is not evident from the pictures is that we also had pork spareribs, which were good but had a bit too much hoisin sauce for my liking, and yakitori, which was also of decent quality. With all this we drank a bottle of Sicilian white wine, which at 159dkk was cheap but also forgettable. To round off we had dessert of coconut ice cream and a white chocolate and ginger cheesecake. The ice cream was incredibly delicious and I also enjoyed the cheesecake though the ginger flavour was hardly protruding. All in all, our bill came to a bit above 400dkk, which can hardly be categorized an expensive meal. We left Wagamama feeling that we had eaten an ok meal but also that the quality of the food is subject to a great deal of fluctuation and we would had been sorry to pay full price.

Meyers Deli

Small, tapas-like dishes.

Sandwich with roast pork, crispy cracklings, apple, red cabbage, and mustard mayo.

Braised beef chuck with beets, mash of potatoes with bacon, and a side of kale and apple salad.

Caesar salad with bacon, chicken, apples, Vesterhavsost and crisp rye bread.

Pumpkin soup with ginger and smoked paprika topped with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Meyers Deli
Godthåbsvej
2000 Frederiksberg

Notes:
Meyers Deli never lets you down. Let it be the incredible bread and viennoiseries in the morning, a hearty sandwich for lunch, or delicious, small, tapas-like dishes washed down with the Riesling house wine, I never left Meyers Deli disappointed in terms of the food - and as you can tell from the above photo serie I have frequented the place a handful of times. For lunch today I had a wonderful caesar salad with chicken, bacon, apples, and Vesterhavs-ost, which is by far the best take on the classic salad, that I have ever tasted. The place is usually packed meaning that the service is oftentimes lacking and there might be a great deal of waiting. The quality of the food is however way above the usual Copenhagen standards, and in my opinion, worth every penny. Recommended.

Palæo

Hotdog of egg wrap, cucumber, shallot confit and cep remoulade + sausages with more remoulade and parsley pesto + life elixir of beet, carrot, ginger and blueberries.

Palæo
Torvehallerne, Hal 1
Rømersgade 18
1362 Copenhagen K

Notes:
Today B and I finally got to try Palæo, which most of blogland seems to have visited by now. The concept was initiated in 2011 by Thomas Rode of Kong Hans Kælder who by now has obtained the status of King Paleo of Denmark. As the name implies the place serves paleo food but the concept seems to be popular among all sorts of people - understandable as the meals do not leave you with an impression that this is "diet food". As we were both slightly hungover we opted for a greasy solution. We had a hot dog, consisting of a sausage with mushrooms, wrapped in a vegetable omelet, which was surprisingly well-seasoned and not eggy at all. It was further dressed with a healthy portion of cep remoulade that I did not care too much for tastewise but it was a nice and creamy addition. As a "side dish" we shared two more of the previously mentioned sausage, which were full of meat and very delicious. They were accompanied by more remoulade and a mild-tasting parsley pesto. All these sources of saturated fat we washed down with a juice of beets, carrots, ginger and blueberries that turned out to be a refreshing juice and not too sweet.  In total the food was filling, tasty and even competitively priced. We payed around 150DKK in total and left very satisfied. Recommended.

The Grill, Scandic Front

Cured salmon with creamy, smoked cheese, pickled cucumber, and crisp rye bread crumbs.

Grilled steak with herbed butter, baked grape tomatoes and buttered potatoes with arugula.

The Grill
Hotel Scandic Front
21 Sankt Annæ Plads
1250 Copenhagen K

Notes:
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing the beautiful Semiramide in the Copenhagen opera with my family. Afterwards in our search for a place for dinner we settled on The Grill in the nearby Scandic Front hotel as it turned out that most of the restaurants in inner city were either closed or fully booked - spontaneous Sundays in Copenhagen are never easy. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very strange - pop music is played and the decor is a bit all over the place though we were almost waitered as if it had been a Michelin restaurant. The menu is moreover a bit confusing but not without ambition. We skipped the starter of grilled tuna with chips, cress and foie gras (?) and instead opted for the cured salmon. It was a generous portion, clearly home-cured (I found a bone or two in there) in slices that were a bit too thick for my liking. The smoked cheese cream was a nice addition but the consistency of "crisp rye bread" was more like sawdust than actual crisp bread crumbs. The pickled cucumber was very out of place as well and in total the dish just lacked direction and appeared rather clumsy though the quality of the salmon was fine. For the main course I went with a grilled steak, cooked almost to request of medium/rare, of very decent, tender quality. The trimmings were classic and ok - not bad, not exceptional. All in all, we had a fine experience at The Grill but with mains priced at +200DKK there are much better deals to be found throughout the city. 

Café Blågaards Apotek

Anchor Brewing Company's Brekle's Brown + Weston's Old Rosie Cloudy Scrumpy.

Café Blågårds Apotek
Blågards Plads 2
2200 Copenhagen N

Notes:
Before heading to Radio last Friday, B and I met at Blågårds Apotek for an after-work drink. The place does not look like much but boasts an impressive selection of beer and is usually always packed. B chose a brown ale by Anchor Brewing Company which did the job perfectly, nothing mind-blowing, but a good brown ale. I had a cider by Weston's (after the waitress numerous times had mentioned that it was nothing like Somersby - fine, thanks!), which as the name implies was an unfiltered, dry number that I very much enjoyed. All in all, a very enjoyable visit. Low-key ambience, good atmosphere, and fair prices. Recommended.